Auburn CAPA teacher dances toward Teacher of the Week award

Posted:
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 1:16 PM EDT

Mrs. Louann Alberts is a creative thinker, not just as a teacher, but as a dance instructor in Auburn High School's Creative and Performing Arts program.

"We spend an inordinate amount of time with our students, especially after hours in rehearsals, so we get to know our students on a very deep and personal level and we really are family," Mrs. Alberts says.

In her 33rd year of teaching and her final year in the classroom, she's earned Teacher of the Week. Her students say she deserves it. Many have gone on to Broadway and New York City ballets. She taught Rockford's own Prince Alonzo, who went on to America's Got Talent.

"They're just not students," Alberts says. "They're really wonderful young people that are going to grow up and be wonderful adults contributing to our society, which sounds a little cliche, but they're great. They're just great human beings and I love them."

But leaving won't be easy for her or her students.

"It's like losing a part of you, because she's just been there through so much for us and it's just so hard to say bye to her," says Akiya Hobson, an Auburn sophomore who nominated Alberts for the award. "She's just always been there for us."

But not to worry. The dance world will always be a part of Alberts' life.

"I want to contribute as much as I can and I also want to enjoy some peace and quiet and my husband and our beagles, and just have a wonderful hopefully blessed life and continue blessing others and being blessed, because that's what i think life's about," Alberts says.